Liang Wu Wins McMillian Award for Outstanding Contributions in Condensed Matter Physics

Liang Wu, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, has received the 2019 William L. McMillan Award from the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois for his outstanding contributions in condensed matter physics. This award, which Wu will share with Barry Bradlyn of the University of Illinois, is presented annually to a condensed matter physicist for distinguished research performed within five years of receiving a Ph.D. Wu was honored “for novel terahertz and optical spectroscopy experiments on topological insulators and semimetals.”

Wu researches light-matter interactions, where he studies and controls properties of quantum materials. In this class of materials, collective phases and properties defy a classical description, which often leads to a rich range of emergent phenomena. His research interests include topological insulators and semimetals, quantum antiferromagnets, spin liquids, and topological superconductors.

In addition to the McMillan Award, Wu has been named a “30 Under 30: in Science" by Forbes Magazine, and received an Army Research Office Young Investigator Program Award and the Richard L. Greene Dissertation Award in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics from the American Physical Society. He earned his Ph.D. in physics from Johns Hopkins University.